Alrighty, folks, with the end of the first round-robin of divisional play, it’s time to turn our attention east, and what better way to get started than with a rivalry game! In fact, it’s a pair of rivalry games, because after EMU’s men’s basketball team plays in Buffalo Amherst (where the UB main campus is located) tonight, the women will play there tomorrow night. As always, we took advantage of the opportunity to interrogate Tim Riordan of Bull Run.

1. Compare where the Bulls are as a team to where you thought they’d be at this point. What’s gone right so far, and what’s disappointed you?

In terms of their record UB is about where I thought they would be, they lost the games I thought they might lose and won at home when it mattered. Whats been difficult to watch are the close losses to Temple (OT Giveaway Loss), Saint Bonaventure (Choke down the stretch loss), and Miami (Epic Fail Loss).

The Bulls have been awful on the road. It seems Reggie-ball has a lot of trouble establishing its rhythm outside of Alumni Arena.

2. It seems like Buffalo’s stars are the forwards: Javon McCrea and Mitchell Watt. How would you describe the Bulls’ offense?

Reggie-ball has not changed. There is a lot of ball movement aimed at pushing McCrea or Watt down low. It’s a little different this season because our point guard Jarod Oldham, is not much of a shooting threat. He does an ok job moving the ball around and setting things up but one less perimeter shooter has made the offense play a lot more in the paint than when Mulkey was running the show last season.

3. Have they faced any zone teams this year? (If so, how did they handle it?) How do you expect them to handle EMU’s 2-3 zone and slow pace?

Well we just Beat Bowling Green, a team who runs the most effective zone in the conference. Also UB ran the zone for a good chunk of the non conference schedule. So one assumes that they practiced against it pretty regularly.

How they handle it is usually up to the outside shooters. If the Bulls can present any kind of permiiter threat that can really use that, and McCrea, to break the zone.

3a. How good a three-point shooting team are the Bulls? (I think I  read that the Bulls made 8 of 10 second-half three-pointers at Bowling Green Saturday?) It looks like shooting guard Zach Filzen can really knock them down; is there anyone else EMU will need to guard closely outside the arc?

Filzen has been missing for weeks. He had a great game against Akron, and a solid effort against Buff State but his shooting has been off since midway through December. Zach is a streaky shooter if he is on he can break your back, if not than the guy you need to watch is Barnett and Watson. They have each been taking more 3′s in the wake of Filzen’s disappearing act.

4. What about defense? What’s Buffalo’s defensive identity?

I’ll let you know when they settle on one. UB has traditionally been a man-to-man team. As I alluded to above this season coach Witherspoon has pushed a lot more zone this season but when it goes badly they tend to fall back into the man defense.

5. Care to make a prediction?

I have little faith in the MAC West but I am relieved that UB gets the top three west teams at home this season. If Akron and Kent could be badly beaten at Alumni I am not giving EMU a whole lot of hope

Buffalo 60 – EMU 53

You can also read my response to Tim’s questions at Bull Run.

But nothing provides more vindication than winning.

We are just about two-thirds of the way into the season, and Murphy’s 2-3 zone, as well as the obvious enthusiasm of his players for it, is not only keeping us afloat but at his moment it is keeping us in first place.  We ran through the first MAC West round-robin with a 4-1 record.  I see no reason why we can’t continue to surprise.

You see, this year’s band of Eagles have completely bought in to what Murphy has taught them, and not only do you see the effort, but you can also see the defensive confidence in these players.

In two posts I am going to give an analysis of the team to date, starting today with the big men.

Jamell Harris continues to be a monster defensive presence inside.  But his most impressive moment of the Toledo game was when late in the 2^nd half, with the Eagles desperately needing a bucket, Harris coolly knocked down a turnaround jumper.  His emphatic dunk (off a beautiful dish from Darrell Lampley) provided the exclamation point.  Harris’s overall play could move him into consideration for All-MAC recognition at the end of the season, if the voters can get past an obsession with statistics.  A lot of what Harris does fails to show up in a box score.

Rob Murphy has said that sophomore transfer Da’Shonte Riley is practically a freshman due to his year of sitting out and limited playing time at Syracuse.  The evidence on the court backs up what Murphy says, but Riley can be a factor this year and will no doubt be a menace to the MAC for years to come.  Riley is almost as disruptive defensively as Harris.  A little more experience and these two will strike serious fear into opposing players.  Already I can see our opponents altering their shots in the paint due to the length of Riley and Harris.  What Riley needs to learn is to effectively dish the ball to the open shooter when double-teamed.  Once he gets that down and stops trying to fight through the double-teams, his turnovers will drop.

During last Wednesday night’s game, I noticed Matt Balkema on the end of the bench.  I couldn’t help but think the guy had to be down.  Early in the season he was starting games, getting big time minutes and lots of scoring opportunities.  Against Western, Kamil Janton had surpassed him as the first option off the bench.  Balkema got minimal playing time.

Did he sulk?  No.  Balkema was the first guy to congratulate teammates on a big play during a time out.  He was involved and enthusiastic.  I remember thinking to myself that above all else, Balkema is a character guy.

Saturday proved that Matt Balkema will have more to say on the floor as the year goes on.  His 7 points and 8 rebounds off the bench were huge.  He will be needed to contribute more in the future.  As for now, I can’t help but root for him.  His attitude is a credit to him and Rob Murphy for keeping him engaged.

Finally, Kamil Janton rounds out the big men.  Three years of warming the bench have left Janton hungry, and his effort has been total.  When I think of guys buying in, Janton is one of the players who come to mind.  Having a 6-10 senior come off the bench and contribute can only help us as we try to defensively intimidate our way to a MAC title.

Harris, Riley, Balkema, and Janton are a significant reason why Eastern has been able to have success in the MAC this year.  Considering that Riley is so raw and unpolished, Harris continues to get better with every game, and the attitude and enthusiasm off the bench from Janton and Balkema, not only there is a lot for EMU fans to cheer about now, but the future looks very bright.

Later in the week—guard play.

Our participants are Falcon Blog, Hustle Belt (with no fewer than four people answering!), and Bull Run.

1. Getting a second NCAA bid: did Ohio screw the MAC’s only chance, or is there still hope?

Phil Friend (Hustle Belt):

I may be in the minority on this but I think the MAC is/was going to be a one-bid league regardless. Ohio was a nine-seed in 2010 when the Bobcats won this thing and then beat Georgetown. Moral: Anyone can win the MAC tourney (unless it’s Ball State).

2. Parity or fluke? Ohio started conference play 1-2, while the directional Michigan schools, which combined for a 16-25 non-conference record, each went 2-1.

Bull Run:

It has nothing to do with parity. Until we hit cross over play there is no good way to measure the East against the West. In the West you have Toledo and NIU which are almost a given.

When we hit cross division play expect the East to take at least three quarters of the games.

Brown and Gold (Hustle Belt):

Parity, I guess. In the East, it’s so competitive top-to-bottom that 1-2 for Ohio was somewhat predictable. In the West, you are talking a decent CMU team, a good WMU team, and the only real surprise is Eastern and their shocker against Ball State. But when you play that Syracuse zone and force teams to shoot well against you, that happens. Otherwise, attribute it to scheduling.

3. If you could steal one player from another MAC team to add to your school’s team for the rest of this season only, who would you take?

Four of the six answers to this chose Julian Mavunga (see the next question), and I’d probably take him for EMU too; the Eagles could use a scoring threat. Here are the exceptions, who incidentally, are both Bowling Green fans:

Falcon Blog:

Well, the obvious answer is McCrea or Jones.  But, if I was looking for a guy who could really compliment the guys the Falcons already have, I’d say a scoring guard–Ziegler, or, if that seems greedy, Zach Filzen.

Matt Sussman (Hustle Belt):

Two months ago I’d say they needed a scoring guard, but between Scott Thomas, Dee Brown and Jordon Crawford, one or two of them usually have good enough nights from that position. However, BGSU desperately needs help on the perimeter defense. With Calhoun, Oglesby and Black underneath they’re decent enough on the boards and post-game, but those guards are getting demolished out there. I’d nab Michael Porrini from Kent State. Best defensive guard in the MAC.

4. Miami’s Julian Mavunga leads the MAC in both points per game and rebounds per game. Make the case for someone else as Player of the Year.

Brandon Hickey (Hustle Belt):

As stated before, I would love to have this guy on my team. It’s tough to pick someone else as the MAC POY, because Mavunga does it all. I guess if I had to pick one it’d be Kent’s Justin Greene. I have a lot of respect for him and his play. He leads the team in scoring and rebounding and shoots over 50%. His only problem seems to be getting in foul trouble, and as evidenced in the Buffalo game the Flashes are a different team when he is not playing. The MAC seems to be a power forward league, and Greene is one of the best.

5. Rank ‘em.

There seems to be general agreement on the best and worst teams, with some confusion in the middle. Northern Illinois was a unanimous last place, while only one person failed to rank Toledo #11 and Central Michigan #10 (Phil Friend put Miami at #11, Toledo at #10, and Central Michigan at #9). Almost everyone had Akron at #1 (Falcon Blog gave the top spot to Kent State while Matt Sussman gave it to Ball State) and everyone had Ohio at either #2 or #3. The teams with the biggest range were Ball State and EMU — no one is really sure how the best teams of the West will stack up against the middle and bottom of the East — who were ranked as low as #8 (Falcon Blog) and #9 (Falcon Blog) respectively, and as high as #1 (Matt Sussman) and #3 (me, with the benefit of having seen Saturday’s games before making my ranking) respectively.

1. Akron
2. Ohio
3. Kent State
4. Ball State
5. Buffalo
6. Bowling Green
7. EMU
8. Western Michigan
9. Miami
10. Central Michigan
11. Toledo
12. Northern Illinois

In this 18:21 recording, Rob Murphy discussed Toledo, EMU’s performance, his defensive philosophy, individual players (including Da’Shonte Riley, Matt Balkema, and briefly new transfer Josh Lyle), and his expectations for this year’s team. Since this is the first time I’ve tried something like this, please leave a comment and let me know what you think. Do you like it? Is it a waste of time? From a technical point of view, does the audio player work for you? How can I make it better? Plus, of course, any thoughts you’d like to share on the actual content of Murphy’s comments.

29 combined turnovers and both teams shooting less than 33% is most definitely an ugly game. But honestly, I think that’s the way this EMU team likes it, and they’re doing well with it, winning their last three games by an average-per-40-minutes score of 49-46. EMU held the Rockets scoreless for the first five minutes and ran out to a 10-4 lead nine minutes in, before five EMU turnovers let Toledo back into the game with a 10-0 run. In fact, Toledo did all of their first-half scoring during the middle 8 minutes (from 14:37 to 6:38), and a three-pointer by Derek Thompson with 3:42 left was the last score of the half, for a 15-14 halftime. In case you’re wondering, the lowest combined halftime score since the shot clock began in 1986 occurred on January 20, 2010, when North Carolina Central led Savannah State at halftime, 13-5; in that first half the teams combined for 23 turnovers and shot a combined 13%. (Here’s the halftime box score to prove it!) By comparison, the teams today played well, combining for “only” 19 first-half turnovers and shooting a combined 23%.

The second half was still ugly, but better with the shooting soaring to nearly 38%. In the end, once again, the difference was EMU’s ability make clutch three-pointers. Quintin Dailey was the hero of the end-game today, hitting two three-point shots in the final minutes — his only points of the day — to give the Eagles the lead for good.

It’s probably worth taking a few moments to consider EMU’s general game plan, which is not going to change this year. Rob Murphy has said that he doesn’t feel that they have a single go-to player, they’re going to count on different players to step up in each game. He’s also commented that he just doesn’t see this year’s team scoring a lot of points, regardless of who they play. With that said, the strategy is to slow the pace of the game, to limit the total possessions, keep things close, and try to have a chance to make some plays at the end. That’s exactly how the last three games have played out. This team’s identity is in the defense they play, the 2-3 zone (Toledo’s head coach, Tod Kowalczyk, commented that EMU “hasn’t played a second of man-to-man defense all season”, to which Murphy replied that they might have played a minute or two of it in their first few games), and the slow pace. Look again at the score of today’s game. Toledo came to Ypsilanti averaging 74 points per game, and the Eagles nearly held them to half that. That kind of defensive performance may not be a fan favorite, but in the long run it will win an awful lot of games.

I was particularly struck by the performances of three players today. First, Murphy particularly singled out Matt Balkema for praise. In the second half, Balkema came through big with 7 points, 7 rebounds, and two blocked shots. My hunch is that going up against Da’Shonte Riley in practice is forcing Balkema to improve his own play.

Speaking of Riley, he is a defensive game-changer (today he had two defensive rebounds, two blocks, and a steal in 17 minutes), but offensively he seems to struggle under the basket, playing better from about 10-12 feet out. In his post-game comments, Rob Murphy said that because of his limited playing time his first year at Syracuse, his injury (broken foot) last year, and then having to sit out the fall, he thinks of Riley as being at a freshman playing-level. He also noted, somewhat bemusedly, that despite Riley averaging just 5 points per game, opposing teams are double-teaming him relentlessly every time he touches the ball, which has led to him averaging three turnovers a game. My thought is that if opponents are so willing to double-team him, the Eagles should take advantage of that propensity and be ready for him to quickly kick the ball back out to the perimeter, where there should be an open man. We saw a little of that today, as he did have two assists, but I think we should be seeing it a lot more.

Finally, Darrell Lampley still isn’t scoring like he was earlier in the year, but he does seem mostly recovered from his injury a week ago. Today he led EMU scorers with…um…9 points. He did have back-to-back fast-break layups (sparked by defensive rebounds by Green and Balkema) late in the second half that really got the crowd going.

EMU's three transfers sitting out this year: (L-R) Daylen Harrison, Glenn Bryant, Josh Lyle

There’s one last personnel note worth mentioning. Murphy confirmed that Josh Lyle, who graduated from Lahser HS in West Bloomfield, has transferred to EMU from Kentucky State (Division II). In 2010, as a senior, he was rated as the #16 wing in Michigan in his class, and last year he redshirted at Kentucky State. In May, 2010, Scott Burnstein of The Oakland Press had this to say about Lyle:

Lyle didn’t have much time in the limelight these past few years despite putting up some very nice stats, due to his team’s lack of success. But make no mistake, this kid is a baller and with the right coaching, he could easily flourish in the college ranks. In a career that will go down as one of the best ever in Corsairs history, Schaeffer, a two year-captain, led the program to back-to-back conference titles for the first time in over two decades.

I don’t know how much impact Lyle will have next year, but it seems like Murphy may still be partly just looking for bodies for practice and players who might be able to play a minute or two in the case of extreme foul trouble.

Click to view slideshow.

After the Eagles had being held at arms length by Western Michigan for most of the game, EMU Senior guard Antonio Green did what so many of us have been waiting for his entire EMU career: He nailed a clutch shot to seemingly give the Eagles a win.  With 4.7 seconds left, a three point lead, and Western having to travel the length of the court, the stage was set for Basketball Strategy 101 to kick in and seal the game.

Without question, the proper play in the above scenario is to attempt to deny the inbound pass, and if that doesn’t work then you harass the point guard until he gets to mid-court.  At that point…YOU FOUL HIM!!!  Despite that fact that I was screaming for us to foul, I was able to check the clock when Western’s point guard crossed mid-court—1.8 seconds left.  You foul him, he goes to the line and you force them to make the first free throw, miss the second, and get a put back.  Much better alternative to leaving the Broncos’ best shooter open for three…

But hey, the team showed character and grit and bailed Murphy out, who surely would have had to answer for his lapse in strategerie.  I say, all’s well that ends well.  Murph can learn from this experience, we still pulled out the win, and the team may have grown into something bigger than most of us expected.  As for the rest of the season—game on.

I want to come back to Antonio Green.  What a clutch shot he made, along with two late free throws in OT to put Eastern up by four with 17 seconds to go.  I’m always happy to see a senior (especially one who has paid his dues like Green) come up big in that kind of situation.  I hope it instills confidence in him; if we are to make any kind of noise in the MAC this year, we need Green to become a real offensive weapon.

I have a few other notes I want to get into but I think I’ll wait another day for those.  For now, it feels good to soak in this win.  Our biggest football win of the season was over Western, and to date this one feels just as big as last Saturday’s Ball State win.  Let’s enjoy it.  At this precise moment, Eastern is a player in the MAC West.  And who honestly thought that would happen?

Click those links above to learn more, or read through this press release from the Wikimedia Foundation (aka Wikipedia, which is also going dark tomorrow), this helpful Q&A from CNET, this Cory Doctorow post on Boing-Boing, and the STRIKE AGAINST SOPA page. Though you should look at these things today….

I try to keep Eagle Totem strictly focused on the topic at hand, which is EMU athletics, but this proposed legislation threatens all corners of the internet. You’ll very rarely find copyrighted material posted here without permission, and the few such uses probably fall well within fair use provisions, but according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, it would be illegal to even post a link to infringing material (e.g. YouTube videos or screen-captures from game broadcasts). A single complaint about a site could lead to the entire site being taken down, which could well be the end of free web hosting (e.g. WordPress.com) as we know it. There are plenty of other problems with the proposed laws — read those links for details — so please call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or contact your senators and your representative directly, and urge them to reject these bills.

Overall, it was a good and well-balanced effort from the Eagles. Tavelyn James had a disappointing 21-point performance (she hit just 7 of 21, missing a whole bunch of layups) but Paige Redditt and Olivia Fouty were right there with 19 and 18 points, respectively, and 11 rebounds each. Natachia Watkins nearly also had a double-double, with 11 points and 9 rebounds. Fouty continues to be the surprise of the year, and while there wasn’t much depth in scoring today (just 7 bench points), the bench players didn’t get many minutes and weren’t really needed. I will say that I was impressed with Sara Stone’s play in the last couple minutes, and I think she’ll be a player to watch next year.

The team as a whole was very aggressive on defense — 17 steals! — which really seemed to wear the Broncos down in the second half. All those steals led to 24 fast-break points for EMU (exactly the final margin). The Eagles also had a significant inside advantage, outrebounding the Broncos 48-35 and scoring 54 inside points to Western Michigan’s 24.

All-in-all, it seems as though the Eagles have come through a disappointing month (3-5 from December 3 through January 5, with the five losses coming by 10 total points and three overtime losses) and emerged as a tougher, more-balanced team that’s a legitimate contender for the MAC championship. The goal from here on out is to finish the regular season as the #1 or #2 MAC team, or at the very least, no worse than #4. Under the new MAC tournament format, remember, the #5-12 teams will have several extra games to play. Remember also, that although the regular-season is still scheduled by divisions, tournament seeding is now a straight 1-12. The good news is that RealTimeRPI has EMU ranked at #98 overall, #2 in the MAC (behind #63 Miami), and that doesn’t take today’s win into account.

Jamell Harris led all Eagles in scoring with 12 points, while Antiono Green had 11 and Lampley and Harper had 10 each. Da’Shonte Riley, in his home debut, only had 5 points but led EMU with 10 rebounds.